Jellyfish

We were at CN 5 years ago for our honeymoon and we saw quite a few jellyfish. My wife actually got stung by a couple of them. We will be headed back in 10 days and were wondering if it was a freak thing, or if there are still a bunch of jellyfish.

There were a lot of jellyfish our first visit, and we didnt notice any our second visit. I think it depends on recent tropical storms. I pack a small bottle of vinegar for immediate relief just in case.

We were at CN in May of 2011, 2012, and 2013 and never saw jellyfish off of the beach. One year we did see a good many small ones on a snorkle excursion, but they never caused a problem for anyone but my wife. She did not get stung, she just headed back to the boat.

It typically depends on the weather from what I have been told. If there are storms out in the Atlantic they tend to get pushed closer to shore. At CSA we see them every year but not anything that concerns us, yeah they sting but they won't keep us out of the ocean!!! My advice is to just look a few feet ahead of you while walking in and out of the water. Enjoy, we love Negril!!!

We did the night snorkel a couple of years ago & got into a large bunch of jelly fish .... 4 or 5 of the group got stung pretty bad. We'd never seen that many before in Negril. I didn't want to go last year after that.

There are dozens of species of jellyfish along the west coast of Jamaica, ranging from the non-stinging variety to some that can cause a stinging rash. Fortunately, the most poisonous, the box jelly, is not present in this part of the world. In 3 dozen Negril-area dives, we have always seen jellyfish in varying concentrations. The currents can carry large numbers in from the northeast, and the current can vary based on jet stream, storms, water temps, lunar tide, etc. On our last trip, Nov. 2011, there were a ton of them, but my wife never got stung and I only got stung once in 16 dives. I used the "natural cure" under the wetsuit while still on the dive to alleviate the sting, which was irritating, but not painful. On our first trip, there was a swarm of royal blue jellies at Pirate's Cave on the cat cruise stop, but those were non-stinging "Jamaican jellyfish", and we swam right through them. It felt strange, but was kind of cool at the same time. Either way, it's not exactly a craps-shoot, but unless you can predict the future, there may be a lot or there may not be any. Don't even sweat it. Enjoy paradise! Lightly-stinging jellyfish are a small price to pay!

Wife got stung twice on 2 separate days. Kind of a freaky thing. Will be playing the lottery this week. I had no stings, but did get nailed on the shoulder by whatever is growing on the underside of the buoy's....burned like a mother brother and it was an ever so brief contact...it's a big ole sea out there with lots of stuff in it.
At the end of the day the risk is way low. If you do get stung, you've got some good stories to tell.

I'm knocking on wood as I type this, but on 5 trips to CN and 1 trip to CSA over the last 6 years, we have never seen a Jellyfish in the swim area, which I am glad since I am allergic to about anything that stings or bites. Could it be the time of year? We go to CN in February and CSA in October. Will be at CSA in 23 days and I hope our luck holds.

In 2011 I dove in to swim laps and came up burning. I got stung on my side and had tentacle marks immediately! Turns out I'm allergic to whatever kind of jelly got me and they had to call the doctor on site to give me steroid shots. Fun times. I've been to CN numerous times and this never happened before, just a freak thing. The tentacle marks lasted almost a year!

We just got back last weekend from CSA for the week. I would have to agree with a previous poster that it varies greatly... We did have a few brush stings, minor rash and irritation for a day or so, nothing to write home about in our opinion. When we did get hit it was likely self induced... We were out past the ropes a few feet at sunset trying to get pics with our waterproof camera beyond the ropes. In our group of 6 I think we had about 6 or 7 stings over the week and most were that twinge of "something got me" but nothing ever came of it... ENJOY!!!